2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the release of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer’s This Time for Keeps. The Esther Williams “water ballet” musical was the third she made in this genre. About a third of the 90-minute movie is set on Mackinac Island. A number of exterior shots and all interior scenes set on the island were filmed at the M-G-M studio in Culver City, California. However, a number of outdoor scenes were shot on the island. This included winter footage of the docks, downtown, the Stewart Woodfill residence, and wooded trails. These were filmed in February 1946, some using doubles to represent the principals. Most of the principal cast, including Esther Williams, Johnnie Johnston, Jimmy Durante and Lauritz Melchior came to Mackinac Island for several weeks in July 1946 for scenes shot along Main Street, at the Coal Dock, in front of Grand Hotel and at the hotel’s swimming pool. More than 200 extras were also employed for these scenes.
For the full story of making This Time for Keeps on the island see our publication “Moviemaking at Mackinac” by Patricia A. Majher in Mackinac History (Volume IV, No. 20) and Esther Williams’ autobiography, Million Dollar Mermaid (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999). The movie is available on DVD as part of the collection “The TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Volume 2.”
